


Changes

by AnnaTheHank



Series: A/C/G ot3 [20]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Angst, Happy Ending, I'm sorry but it's a bit necessary, M/M, Multi, michael redemption arch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 19:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20894672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaTheHank/pseuds/AnnaTheHank
Summary: There's a second anti-Christ on the way. Aziraphale and Crowley have to convince Gabriel that helping them to stop it is the best course of action.





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> They're back!!   
Sorry, I let myself get caught up in the self-indulgence train and just went ham! But!!! It's so nice to be back with these boys!! And look, I'm sorry for the pain in this chapter. But!! It does have a good ending! AND!! the next fic is going to be a sappy lovely honeymoon to make up for it!!  
Thank you all for your patience and continued support ! I can't even begin to express how much I love you guys!!!!

Life was great. It had always been great, but now it was really great. Gabriel couldn’t think of anything other than how great it was as he happily went about his work. His job didn’t seem so stressful anymore, not now that he had Aziraphale and Crowley waiting for him at home.

Home.

Heaven had always been his home. Was his home. But it was more of a home-away-from-home. Over the past weeks Gabriel had come to consider Earth home. Well, the bookshop at least. Really anywhere where Aziraphale and Crowley was. Wherever his husbands were. His husbands.

Gabriel’s smile widened as he thought about it, his heart swelling in his chest. There was no more hiding it. None of them even tried. They were in love, and they openly admitted it. Nothing could dampen his spirits now. Absolutely nothing.

And then the other Archangels walked in. 

Gabriel looked up, his face falling but still smiling. Michael led Uriel and Sandalphon in, each of them mirroring his fake smile.

“Michael, Uriel, Sandalphon,” Gabriel greeted, watching them move inside. Sandalphon closed the door behind him. “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” Michael said. “In fact, your help is going to be imperative.”

Gabriel dropped his smile as the angels moved further into his office. They stood around his desk, Uriel and Sandalphon off to either side with Michael standing directly before him.

“Well, Michael,” Gabriel said. “You know I’m always happy to help a fellow angel.” 

He gave them a knowing look. ‘Remember I saved you’ it said. Michael gave him a look in return that said ‘I owe you nothing’. 

“It’s about the apocalypse,” Michael said. “It’s starting over.”

Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows, head tilting. “Starting over?”

“They’re working on a new Antichrist as we speak,” Sandalphon said, smiling. Gabriel’s heart skipped a beat.

“That’s where you come in,” Uriel explained. “See, we know Aziraphale and the demon will catch on eventually. And they might do something drastic.”

“I am not going to help you kill them,” Gabriel said, a protective growl in his voice.

Michael waved him off. “That’s not what we’re suggesting. We stopped trying to kill them a long time ago. But we do need them out of the way.”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“Distract them,” Uriel said.

“We know you have...feelings for them,” Sandalphon said, shuddering at the word.

“Go down there and enjoy yourself,” Michael said. “We’ll handle everything up here. Keep them busy for eleven years and then,” they shrugged, “we’ll all have what we want.”

“Winning the war,” Sandalphon said.

“Triumphing over evil,” Uriel added.

“Everyone back in heaven,” Michael said. They leaned over the desk. “Aziraphale and Crowley, home again. You wouldn’t have to split your time anymore. You could be with them here.”

“Think about it.” Uriel leaned down as well, crowding Gabriel’s space. “Crowley an angel again. Aziraphale back in good standing. And you, the one who got them all of that.”

Sandalphon mirrored their leans, sick smile on his face. “Everything like before. Back before Eden.”

“No more stress,” Uriel continued. “No more hiding. No more judgement.”

“You know this is the right thing to do,” Michael said. “This is what you want, Gabriel. What you have always wanted.”

Gabriel looked between the three of them. It seemed this second apocalypse was happening either way. And they were right. Gabriel would get to enjoy eleven years of uninterrupted bliss with his loves. And afterwards they would come home. After all, heaven was home. He nodded.

Michael smiled, reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “Excellent. Like I said, don’t worry about anything up here. We have it all under control.”

-

“Well where the fuck is he, huh?” Crowley asked. He was pacing, arms crossed and scowling. He growled a bit.

Aziraphale watched him from the couch. “Do relax, dear. He does have an important job. It’s alright if he’s a little late.”

“It’s been an hour!” Crowley threw his hands up in the air, increasing his speed of pace. He shook his head, face scowling even more. “I fucking knew it. Dammit I knew it!”

Aziraphale got off the couch and caught Crowley by the arms, holding him still. Well, stopping his pacing as Crowley bounced in his hold. “Crowley, relax. Just because he’s late once doesn’t mean anything.”

Crowley huffed. “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

Aziraphale frowned. He pulled Crowley into a hug, rubbing his back, a bit of healing power in his touch to help loosen Crowley’s muscles. Crowley gave in, deflating into the hug, holding Aziraphale back loosely.

“It’s okay,” Aziraphale whispered. “Your trust in him has not been misplaced. He loves us. I know you can’t sense it, and that makes it hard, but I can feel it.” He kissed the side of Crowley’s head. “He’ll be here soon, everything is okay. Now, come sit and watch TV with me until he does, hm?”

Crowley nodded and let Aziraphale lead him over to the couch. They sat together, Crowley curled up to Aziraphale’s side, grumbling a little bit every now and then. Until Gabriel showed up.

“There he is,” Aziraphale said, getting off the couch to give a hug to the archangel that had appeared in the room. Gabriel was smiling, but it was that dumb fake smile of his. Crowley stayed on the couch, arms crossed, squinting at him.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Gabriel said, smile a bit more genuine as he hugged Aziraphale back. “But I was busy planning something.”

“Oh?” Aziraphale pulled back. “What were you planning?”

“There’s something the human’s do,” Gabriel said. “It’s called a honeymoon?”

Aziraphale gasped, but Crowley’s suspicion only grew. 

“Did you hear that, Crowley,” Aziraphale said. He looked back at Crowley with an I-told-you face. “Gabriel was planning a honeymoon for us.”

“Yes, and I was thinking, why just go to one place? I think we should go everywhere. Travel all over the world. You could show me all of the human things.”

“That’s an awful lot to do,” Aziraphale said, face brightening. “It might take a while.”

“Well, I was thinking we could go off for a few years.”

Aziraphale stepped back, a bit shocked. “Years? Well, how many?”

Gabriel shrugged. His face twitched a bit, a motion that didn’t escape Crowley’s glare. “About a dozen or so.”

Aziraphale laughed. “A dozen years?” He shook his head. “Gabriel that’s a bit long. After all, who’s going to watch over the shop. Or take care of Gabrielle?”

Gabriel’s fake smile finally dropped. “I just wanted to spend time with you.”

Aziraphale’s face softened, clearly falling for his scheme. But Crowley was over it, his anger sufficiently built up to overcome his new innate desire to not hurt Gabriel’s feelings. 

“Fucking liar,” he said. 

Gabriel and Aziraphale both looked at him with wide eyes. 

“Crowley,” Aziraphale chided. 

Crowley sunk deeper into the couch. “Think about it, angel. Why a dozen years huh?”

Aziraphale looked between the two of them. Gabriel was looking ashamed, staring down at the ground, frowning deeply. “Well, he simply wants to be with us. I-I would hardly call that a lie.”

Crowley crossed his legs, foot tapping in the air. He looked so angry. He was so angry. He shook his head, face turned sour, and looked away. “I told you. One hint of the war and he’ll drop us.”

“War?” Aziraphale gasped, grabbed Gabriel’s arm. “Tell me he’s lying, Gabriel.”

Gabriel swallowed hard. “I don’t want to drop you,” he said. He glanced at Aziraphale, his eyes a mix of pain and confusion. 

“But the war?”

Gabriel sighed. He straightened up, looking dead ahead. “Hell is making another Antichrist.”

Crowley scoffed. Aziraphale just stood there, holding his sleeve. He couldn’t believe it.

“So what?” Crowley asked. “You were just going to fuck us through all the countries in the world until it blew up?”

“Well now we know,” Aziraphale said, cutting off whatever response Gabriel was going to give. (Not that Crowley thought it was going to be any good anyway). “And we can work together to stop it.”

“Oh give it up, angel.” Crowley rolled his eyes. “He wants this.”

“That’s not true,” Aziraphale said. Gabriel wasn’t looking at him. “Tell him that’s not true, Gabriel.”

Gabriel didn’t say anything. 

Aziraphale let go of his sleeve and moved away, shaking his head. “But...you promised.” His voice was small, weaker than either of them had ever heard it before. 

Gabriel opened his mouth to argue but Crowley cut him off. “Just leave.”

Gabriel looked at Aziraphale, his eyes pleading with him. Aziraphale wrapped his arms around himself and looked away. When he didn’t tell him to stay, Gabriel left. 

“Don’t say anything,” Aziraphale said, sensing Crowley’s mouth opening. It snapped shut. Aziraphale was shaking slightly, trying to stop himself from crying. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Crowley got up and pulled Aziraphale into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Don’t be sad. Please. Look, it’s better if you just get angry. Okay? It’s easier.”

Aziraphale shook his head. “I don’t want to be angry,” he said. “I want him to…” he choked down a sob, hands grabbing tight fistfuls of Crowley’s shirt. 

Crowley could feel something in his chest but he ignored it. He held on to his anger, letting it grow because how dare Gabriel make Aziraphale cry.

Aziraphale pulled back, taking deep breaths as he wiped his face clean. “Well.” He cleared his throat. “Is there anyone in Hell that doesn’t hate you? It would be helpful if we could get some more information.”

Crowley nodded. “I can check some old connections,” he said. “No promises but, don’t worry. We stopped it before. We can stop it again.”

-

Michael was not pleased to see Gabriel back in heaven. They smiled at him, folding their hands before them. “I told you we have everything handled up here. No need to check up on us.”

“It didn’t work,” Gabriel said. He was still reeling from the faces Aziraphale and Crowley had given them. He felt sick, and the prospect of playing another mind game with Michael left him weak. He wasn’t strong enough for it. Not after that. “They’re going to try and stop it.”

“You told them.” Michael said it more than asked it.

“They’re not idiots, Michael.” Gabriel could feel his muscles getting weak, like when he was recovering from the hellfire burns. He wanted to sit down but there was nowhere to sit in the hallway. “They figured it out on their own.”

Michael clicked their tongue and tapped their foot. “Well. I had hoped we could go about this the easy way. Seems there’s no choice now.” Michael pushed past Gabriel and hurried down the hall.

“What are you going to do?” Gabriel called after them. “Michael!”

Michael turned the corner. Gabriel wanted to chase after them, to force them to tell him their plans. But he was tired. And he wanted to go home. 

-

Crowley reached into the cage and let Gabrielle climb onto his hand, pulling her out. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, gently petting her head. “I shouldn’t have ignored you all day. It’s not your fault, you’re innocent in all of this.”

Gabrielle happily wrapped herself around his hand licking about his wrist and forearm. He smiled and closed his eyes. It was hard to remove Gabrielle from her past, but she didn’t deserve to be abandoned just because Gabriel was a dick. 

“Where is Aziraphale?”

Gabriel’s voice had a wobble of worry in it but Crowley ignored it. He rolled his eyes, thought about responding, but decided that the cold shoulder was the best option. He put Gabrielle back in the cage and refiled her water bowl.

“Crowley. Where is Aziraphale?”

Crowley turned looking across the room for something to do that would help him not focus on Gabriel’s presence. He picked up one of Aziraphale’s books from the table next to the couch, sitting down and opening it to a random page.

“Crowley?” Gabriel asked. He walked around, inching closer to where Crowley sat. “Can you hear me?”

Crowley had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smirking. Gabriel may not be an idiot, but sometimes he really was dumb.

“Oh no,” Gabriel said. “They started.”

That got Crowley’s attention. He snapped the book shut and looked up. “Started what?”

“Oh good! You can hear me.” Gabriel knelt down, arms resting on the side of the couch. “Where is Aziraphale?”

Crowley rolled his eyes, opened the book again. “We don’t want to see you, Gabriel.”

“Please, it’s important. He’s in danger.”

Crowley sat up. “He’s downstairs.”

Gabriel sighed in relief. “Good. You’re both safe, then.”

“Safe from what?”

“The others...Let’s just say me keeping you busy was the easy option.”

Crowley took a deep breath. That little feeling was back in his chest. He fought the urge to reach out and touch Gabriel’s arm. But he was finding it harder and harder to be mad at him. “Is this seriously what you want, Gabriel?”

Gabriel looked to the side. He was frowning again and as much as Crowley wanted to see him suffer for what he did to Aziraphale (and him) he couldn’t get the image of Gabriel’s smile out of his head. His face just looked wrong without it. 

“I’m not sure.” He whispered it, but Crowley heard. 

“Then do something to stop it.” Crowley got up on his knees, leaning over on the arm of the couch so he was level with Gabriel. 

“I can’t.” Gabriel made eye contact. His eyes were usually a bright purple. Right now they were dull, almost grey. When Crowley reached out to touch his hand it was cold. 

“What do you want, Gabriel? Do you want a war? Do you want to lose Earth? Think about all that’s down here.” Crowley almost smiled, reminiscent of his conversation with Aziraphale before the first apocalypse. “Coffee. Do you want to lose that? The clothes?” He picked at Gabriel’s sleeve. “Don’t you like those? Aziraphale? Me?”

“I won’t lose you,” Gabriel said. 

“If you let them do this, you will.”

Gabriel looked down. He couldn’t ignore the truth in Crowley’s voice. That vision of the three of them happy and in heaven was slipping further and further away. 

“Oh come on. Work with me, angel,” Crowley said, head rolling back as he groaned.

Gabriel’s attention popped up. “What did you say?”

“I said work with me! There’s gotta be something on this planet you care enough about to save!”

Gabriel stood up. “It would be easiest if we could stop Hell before they finished making the Antichrist.”

Crowley was initially surprised by Gabriel’s switch. But he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He jumped up, excited. “You’re right! We have to get to them soon!”

“But what do we do?” Gabriel put his hand on his chin, started pacing. “We can’t go up against them alone. There’s too many of them.”

Crowley started to bounce. That nugget of something in his chest disappearing. “Fear! We have to scare them. Make them too afraid to start anything! That’s how Aziraphale and I got them off our backs.”

Gabriel nodded. “Fear. If the others would help…”

“Forget them. We can think of something.”

Gabriel stopped pacing. “What could scare the entirety of Hell?”

Crowley stilled, biting his lip. Well, Gabriel had been right. If they had all of the archangels on their side they could certainly bully them around. But the other three were probably working with Hell, which just made scaring them even harder. 

Gabriel made a little sound and then walked into the bedroom. “We’re going to scare them with sex?” Crowley called after him.

Gabriel came back, holding the horn in his hands.

“Whoa now!” Crowley raced over, pulling the horn from Gabriel’s shocked hands. “Let’s not be hasty!”

“This is the only thing that will scare them,” Gabriel said. He tried to grab for the horn but Crowley danced out of the way, moving further away from him. 

“There’s gotta be something else.”

“Crowley, give me the horn.”

“No!”

Gabriel followed him around the room, Crowley spinning about and climbing over furniture to get away from him. It would have been a funny scene, Crowley hoping over the coffee table or jumping across the couch, and Gabriel chasing after him with determination, was there not the weight of death and apocalypse behind it.

“What is going on up here?” Aziraphale asked, entering the room. 

Crowley and Gabriel stopped, Crowley standing with one foot on the couch and one on a side table, holding the horn up above his head and Gabriel leaning over the back of the couch, reaching for it. 

“Aziraphale,” Crowley said. “Hi!”

“I’m going to use the horn to stop the apocalypse,” Gabriel said.

“You’re going to use it?” Aziraphale asked, face turning pale. 

“To scare them,” Gabriel clarified. “I’m not going to actually use it.”

Crowley and Gabriel made eye contact and Crowley startled, hoping off the couch and running over to Aziraphale, holding the horn tight to his chest and hiding behind him. 

“But Crowley won’t give it to me,” Gabriel added, stepping up to the two of them.

“Hold on.” Aziraphale reached a hand back, rubbing Crowley’s arm. “Tell me what’s happening again.”

“We decided that if we could stop Hell before the Antichrist is born it would be best. So I’m going to threaten them with the horn to make them stop. It’s really quite simple.”

Aziraphale blinked. “You...you want to stop it?”

Gabriel’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “I don’t want to lose you. Either of you.”

Aziraphale smiled. “We don’t want to lose you either, dear.” He held out his free hand and Gabriel took it. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to help.”

“Well, I’m trying to.” He looked at Crowley who hid further behind Aziraphale. 

Aziraphale squeezed his hand. “Is there really no other way?”

Gabriel shrugged. “I’m willing to try something if you can think of it.”

The three stood around in silence. Each of them was trying to think of another way to stop Hell, another way to scare the demons that didn’t involve threatening the demon among them. 

“I can’t think of anything,” Aziraphale said, frowning. Crowley curled himself closer to his back. “But there just has to be something! What if something goes wrong? We can’t just…” He shivered. 

“Trust me,” Gabriel said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Crowley growled. He held the horn tighter to his chest, as if trying to push it inside himself to keep it away from Gabriel. 

“Crowley, please.” Gabriel stepped closer, still holding Aziraphale’s hand. He placed the other on Crowley’s arm. “I won’t let you get hurt.”

Crowley bit his lip. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t terrified. After all, just a few hours ago Gabriel was hurting him. Granted it was a different type of hurt and he made up for it almost right after. But still. Crowley looked into Gabriel’s eyes, bright purple again. His hand was warm on Crowley’s arm. He gulped. His life had once been in Gabriel’s hands before, the first time he had the horn. With great unease, Crowley figured he could trust in that again.

Shaking hands held the horn out to him. Gabriel took it gently, slowly, as if he was taking a bone from a wild animal. Aziraphale turned around, holding Crowley in a tight hug. 

“Thank you,” Gabriel said. “I promise everything will be okay. Just...stay in the shop until I’m back.”

-

It worked exactly as planned. Gabriel went down to Hell, showed them the horn, and the apocalypse was off. He had had to threaten to use it once, but thankfully Hell wasn’t as in on his relationships as Heaven, and didn’t know that he actually never would. They stopped their work on the Antichrist and Gabriel left, just daring them to try it again. 

Walking out into the lobby of the building, Gabriel was feeling great. He had stopped the apocalypse and Crowley and Aziraphale would be safe. (He figured Michael and the others wouldn’t try whatever the hard way was with the war off the table). 

Just as he was getting ready to leave the building, to return home and express his great success to the multitudes of praise they would give him, a chain shot out from the ceiling, wrapping itself around Gabriel. He startled, the horn dropping to the floor as the chains squeezed around his body. He felt himself being dragged up, eyes growing wide as he watched the horn grow smaller and smaller.

-

Being pulled up to heaven was a disorienting experience. Gabriel shook his head, trying to ground himself. He was kneeling on the ground, chains wrapped around him, blocking any power he might try to use. “I thought you were getting rid of all this junk,” Gabriel said, bile forming in his stomach as he looked up at Michael.

But Michael wasn’t looking at him. They were looking at the horn, resting in their hand.

“I always thought this was a myth,” they said. The turned the horn in their hand, studying it from all angles. “Yet you had it this whole time.”

“Michael, don’t!” Gabriel struggled against the chains, trying to get up to his feet. If he could just get up he could do something. He didn’t need his powers, just had to get the horn away from them. He could tackle them, make them drop it, bite them even. Just keep them away. 

“Don’t?” Michael looked at him, scowling. “You could have ended it. You could have stopped everything! You let Eden fall!” Michael’s voice was loud and thunderous, booming off the walls of the small, empty room they were in. 

“It would have killed them,” Gabriel said. “All of them. They would have died!”

“Good! They’re demons, Gabriel. That’s what they deserve.”

“They can be saved. You know that, Michael! They can be saved and they can come home!”

Michael scoffed, shaking their head slowly. “You really are a fool, Gabriel.” They brought the horn to their lips.

“No! Please!”

Michael stopped, one strong breath away from instantly eliminating all of the demons in existence, destroying all of their problems. But there was something in Gabriel’s voice. In the please. Desperation. The same call of help that falling angels cried out as they were being struck from God’s grace. 

Each archangel had their own way of dealing with it. Gabriel had gone into deep denial. No matter what anyone told him he had convinced himself that this was a temporary thing, simply something for the demons to suffer through before they were forgiven and allowed back into heaven. It was how he protected himself, how he lived after the trauma that was hurting fellow angels. 

Michael had protected themselves in a different way. They had locked something inside. Had shoved it deep down and pushed it in a closet, locking the door after it. But the way Gabriel begged, tears actually falling from his eyes? It turned the key, and a little bit of that something peeked out. They knew it was a bad idea, but they were curious. What had they put away down there? It was so long ago, they couldn’t remember. They cracked the door open, just to get a look. 

It rushed out, making Michael’s body shiver with the force of it. Love. They had forgotten what love was. It spread throughout their nerves, heating their body. They could feel it. It was in this room. It was radiating off of every inch of Gabriel’s body. Love for Aziraphale and Crowley. Michael had known he was involved with them but this was powerful. Scary even. 

And there was some other kind of love too. Not nearly as powerful as Gabriel’s love for Aziraphale and Crowley, but still there. It was Michael’s love. Love for Gabriel. Because even though he was getting in the way of all their plans, and they had never seen eye to eye, Michael loved Gabriel. Loved him because he was an angel. Because they were friends. They were family. Gabriel had been the one to comfort Michael after the fall, to hold them and tell them everything was going to be okay. It had been there, in Gabriel’s arms, that Michael had forgotten how to love. 

But it was coming back. And Michael, for many reasons, could not blow the horn. Chief among them was knowing they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves after causing Gabriel such pain as killing someone he had such a powerful love for. They swallowed hard. They couldn’t let anyone know they were soft now. Especially not Gabriel. 

Michael walked up and snapped their fingers, the chains dissolving. They placed the horn in Gabriel’s hands, keeping up a frown. “Now we’re even,” they said, before spinning on their heel and walking away. 

-

Crowley shook in Aziraphale’s arms. They were cuddled up on the couch. The TV was on but neither of them were paying attention to it. 

“It’s okay,” Aziraphale said, rubbing Crowley’s arm. “It’ll be okay.”

Crowley curled in tighter, head pressing against Aziraphale’s chest. They were both waiting. Either Gabriel would show up. Or Crowley would disappear. Crowley screwed his eyes shut. He could practically feel himself fading away. 

A shock of static ran through the air and they both sat up straight. Gabriel had appeared in the room. He was on his knees, staring down at the horn in his hands. He was shaking and there were tear streaks on his cheek.

“Gabriel!” Aziraphale was off the couch, falling to the floor next to him. 

Gabriel seemed to snap out of his haze. He tossed the horn to the side, crawling away from it, still shaking. 

“Are you okay?” Aziraphale asked. He wrapped his arms around Gabriel’s neck. 

Gabriel brought a shaking arm up around Aziraphale’s waist. His eyes snapped over to Crowley and he was crawling, dragging Aziraphale with him, moving toward Crowley, arm outstretched and grabbing for him. 

Crowley crawled off the couch and Gabriel pulled him to his free side, holding them both close. 

“What happened?” Aziraphale asked, smoothing down Gabriel’s hair. Gabriel just shook his head and held them tighter. 

Crowley placed a hand on his back and tried that healing stuff that Aziraphale used to calm him down. Gabriel was still tense, but he stopped shaking. 

“It worked,” Gabriel said. “They stopped.”

Aziraphale kissed his cheek. “You did it? I’m so proud of you!”

Gabriel’s body relaxed a bit, but he still held them in a vice grip. 

“Yeah, I knew you could do it,” Crowley said. “Never had a doubt.”

“I know that twelve years is too long,” Gabriel whispered. He rested his head between their shoulders. “But could we maybe still go away somewhere together? Just for a bit?”

“Of course dear,” Aziraphale said. “After this, we could all use a break.”


End file.
